Oregon has led the way in developing an alternative to the gas tax, with a pilot program that levies a fee on vehicle miles traveled. While the Oregon Department of Transportation has spent years developing the mileage-based program and is ready to expand it to all vehicles statewide, it's not part of the massive transportation spending package under discussion at the legislature.
On Monday, the Oregon state legislature released a plan to raise about $8.1 billion over the next 10 years by increasing gas taxes, registration fees, and payroll taxes to spend on roads, transit, walking, and bicycling. It also includes a new excise tax on bicycle sales.
The industry groups behind last week’s “Infrastructure Week” campaign got exciting news today when presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton announced she’s going to make a big $275 billion “infrastructure” push in her first 100 days. An anonymous Clinton aide told the Washington Post: This proposal would represent the most significant increase in infrastructure investment since President […]
It may be “seven years too late,” as tactical urbanist Mike Lydon put it, but President Obama has released a transportation proposal that calls for big shifts in the country’s spending priorities. Obama’s proposal would generate $30 billion annually from a $10-per-barrel surcharge assessed on oil companies. More importantly, the revenue is linked to a substantial shift in what transportation projects get […]